The World Health Organisation and Directorate General for Health have warned that indoor and outdoor air pollution is a major environmental health concern, as it can lead to serious health effects. Much progress has been made in the EU to improve outdoor air quality and reduce the emission of pollutants. However, indoor air quality also requires attention because it is where people spend most of their time; indoor exposure to air pollutants may occur in any indoor environment; among them, schools.

The InAirQ project (Transnational Adaptation Actions for Integrated Indoor Air Quality Management) aims at describing the health impacts of the indoor air quality on the vulnerable population of children and to take action to improve the healthiness of school environment in the CE area. The project's main objective is to trigger the elaboration of policies and practical actions and initiate capacity building to reduce the adverse health effects of indoor air quality in the CE countries by focussing on elaborating transnational actions; policies and practical actions which will lead to the mitigation of the human health risks from exposure to indoor air pollution.

The InAirQ project will build on transnational methodologies and tools. A Virtual Health Repository will collect, compare, evaluate and disseminate indoor environmental facts from the project partners to compare the nature and extent of indoor air pollution in schools. This process-oriented method encompasses the aspects of the relationship between health and environmental factors and provides information on policy and programme development in the fields of environment and health. A new Transnational Environment Quality Forum will be established to contribute to the project results, sharing the deliverables of the InAirQ among the PPs and assisting stakeholders in the implementation of indoor air quality improvement protocols, sustaining the co-operation to the potential stakeholders. Capacity Building Courses will be organised, tailored to the school managers and local/regional school operating bodies for the best implementation of the action plans.

Finally, National Action Plans will be elaborated, tested and implemented to provide a set of measures to improve the indoor environment for the pilot schools and national/regional health control bodies. By engaging stakeholders, it will connect different interest groups (public, education and health sector, building industry) to achieve a harmonised health policy, increasing the potential to inform and influence policy-making on outdoor and indoor air pollution in a way which reflects the actual needs of human health and environmental quality. The measures to be developed in the Indoor Air Quality Action Plan will promote adjustments to indoor air pollution in ways that do not discourage or constrain socio-economic development. The Action Plans will strive to raise standards of human health through improvements in the environment while maximising the potential for balanced and sustainable human welfare and quality of life.

InAirQ project is a cross-border project co-financed by the EU within the Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE Programme. The project involves 9 partners from 5 EU states: the Hungarian National Public Health Center, as Lead Parener; Municipality of Várpalota (Hungary); Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine; Marshal Office of Łodz Region (Poland); Slovenian National Institute of Public Health; Primary School Karla Destovnika-Kajuha (Slovenia); Czech National Institute of Public Health (Czech Republic); SiTI - Higher Institute on Territorial Systems for Innovation; School Foundation (Italy). The duration of the project will be 36 months, starting from July, 2016. The total value of the project is 2.000.325,00 EUR, 1.678.768,75 being co-financed from European Regional Development Fund, whereas the partners will co-finance the remaining share.